


if we were the last people on earth

by fiveya_whoregreeves



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: (somewhat), Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Anal Sex, Angst, Apocalypse, Cunnilingus, Double Penetration, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Face-Sitting, Falling In Love, Fluff, Heavy Angst, Human/Monster Romance, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Masturbation, Miscarriage, Multi, Murder, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Polyamory, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pseudo-Incest, Smut, Suicidal Thoughts, Tentacle Sex, Tentacles, Torture, Unplanned Pregnancy, Weddings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-19 06:54:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29746653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fiveya_whoregreeves/pseuds/fiveya_whoregreeves
Summary: “We’ll find a way home,” Ben assured. “And, until then, we have each other. Right?”
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy/Number Six | Ben Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy/Vanya Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy/Vanya Hargreeves/Number Six | Ben Hargreeves, Vanya Hargreeves/Number Six | Ben Hargreeves
Comments: 6
Kudos: 18





	if we were the last people on earth

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JjdoggieS](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JjdoggieS/gifts), [Chevalier_Barthelemy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chevalier_Barthelemy/gifts).



> This is dedicated to JjdoggieS, xxbunnykissesx, and Chevalier_Barthelemy, for sharing ideas with me on this fic. A special thanks to Chevalier_Barthelemy for beta-reading for me! 
> 
> Reminder to read all tags before you read this fic, and, if any of them make you uncomfortable, please do not read! I will add with each chapter, but I have added a few that don’t happen this chapter because they’re going to be pretty important to the plot.

When Five stabbed his knife into the table at thirteen years old, Ben nearly begged him to stop, seeing the way Vanya shook her head at him, knowing that they both needed him and whatever he was about to do would take him away forever. However, Five started ranting to Reginald regardless, and then he was running out of the house, a gleeful expression on his face. As soon as Vanya stood up, Ben was already grabbing her hand, their fear for Five propelling them forward. 

Five was seconds from jumping when they both grabbed onto either of his arms, and then they were landing into the future. 

“What are you two—” He scowled. “Keep holding onto me, idiots.” 

He kept stepping forward into the future until his powers suddenly stopped. 

And they were at the end of the world. 

Were it not for Five’s grip on them, Ben and Vanya would have stumbled. Ben could hear a sob work its way into his brother’s throat. 

“Where are we?” Vanya asked, and then Five was actually crying. Hearing the way she tried to hide the terror in her voice was causing Ben’s stomach to get all pained, and he was pretty sure that at any second the eldritch would be ripping out of him. It felt more like they were  _ distressed,  _ though, like hearing her tiny voice was causing the same crushing pain that he and Five were both experiencing. “Five? Ben?”

Neither of them answered her. Fat tears started to stream down her cheeks. “Guys?” she squeaked, and then both Ben and Five were clutching onto her, embracing her and holding her close while she started to weep against them. She whimpered, “I wanna go home, guys.”

Ben felt his arm jerk as Five winced at her words. 

“We’ll find a way home,” Ben assured. “And, until then, we have each other. Right?”

They were the right words. Five’s body relaxed, and Ben gently stroked his back, knowing he needed him right now. All of them clung to each other for a little bit longer until Five abruptly announced, “We need to find some source of water, build a shelter, figure out how we’re going to eat, and set up an area where I can work on equations. Do we have any immediate concerns?”

“My medicine,” Vanya blurted, and Ben was certain Five would break down again but he just nodded. 

“We can search for some drug stores. Maybe we should split up, you and Ben can stay together and set up a shelter while I try to find us stuff we’d need, since I can go back quicker than the two of you in the case of an emergency. How does that sound?”

“That sounds okay,” she mumbled, and he hugged her and then Ben again. 

“I love you two! Be safe!” He walked away, and Ben realized he hadn’t ever heard him say that before. 

Vanya apparently hadn’t either. “Did he just say he loved us?”

“He’s gotta be more emotional than we thought.” 

She giggled, and Ben hugged her again, lifting her tiny body up. “We’re going to be okay,” he promised again. “We’re going to take care of each other. And, hey, it works out that we’re all friends to begin with, huh?”

At her beam, he felt his stomach constrict again, and he muttered, “Try to avoid standing in front of me, though. I think the eldritch are going to have to be let out at some point today, and I don’t want them to hurt you.”

Seven nodded. “Do you know what we’re going to need for shelter?”

“I was thinking that we could see if we could find anything with a roof, and, if not that, we’d need to build some sort of canopy type thing in case it starts to rain. Maybe see if we can build a tent, too. We’ll need somewhere to sleep, so keep your eyes out for a mattress or some large cushion.”

“Alright, yeah, I can do that!” she chirped, grabbing Ben’s arm. 

When he caught sight of her mostly bare legs, just covered by the socks, he added, “We’ll probably need to find better clothing, too. Five will probably grab us some, but we can see if we can find the ruins of a clothing store.”

“Is that the Icarus theatre?” Vanya gasped, and then she was darting off, Ben following closely behind her. 

Until she stopped dead in her tracks, letting out the most bloodcurdling, terrified scream Ben had ever heard. She had fallen over, was quivering like she’d suddenly caught hypothermia when he got to her, hearing her teeth chatter. As soon as he caught sight of what she was staring, transfixed, at, he only had enough time to turn his head away as vomit started spilling from his lips. 

That was when Five got to them, apparently able to use his powers well enough for a spatial jump. “What’s wrong?” Five gasped, face white, like he’d jumped the second he’d heard her scream. “What happ—”

When he caught sight of what Vanya was seeing though, he gasped, yelling, “Oh, God, Vanya don’t look at that, okay? Look away. Look—”

Having been silent since the initial sound of terror, she started wailing now, and Ben weakly crawled to her, pulling her against him because wouldn’t stop staring at their family’s dead bodies. Five gingerly lifted Klaus’s arm, revealing the umbrella branding with a shudder. 

“We have to bury them,” Ben gasped, the eldritch curling up in his stomach so much that— “Five, can you hold Vanya? I think—”

Catching onto what Ben was suggesting, Five lifted her up by her elbows, pulling her away just enough that she wasn’t in direct line with the tentacles as they ripped through Ben’s clothing and sprung free outside of him. 

They didn’t strike terror, though. Five flinched away when they started drifting to him and Vanya, but they just gently nudged at them for a few moments, curling around them both, like they were embracing them. Vanya didn’t even question it, just wrapping her arms around one, looking so small as she started crying, letting it stroke her hair as she sniffled. Though he could tell Five had some reservations for a few moments, probably more due to being hugged so much today than the fact that a tentacle monster was doing it, he eventually relaxed, setting his chin on Vanya’s head and accepting the comfort from the eldritch. Ben stumbled over to them, and then they all just held onto one another again, which had become the theme for that day. 

While Ben and Five started digging a grave, using mostly the eldritch to do so, with Five muttering commands softly to the monsters and seeming flummoxed with their compliance ot them, they had Vanya give something akin to a normal eulogy, knowing it was best to have her distracted while they did so. Lifting Luther didn’t work with all three of them, and the eldritch nudged their hands away before wrapping around their brother’s body and setting him down in the shallow grave, immediately curling around Vanya as she kept sobbing through her words. 

After all of their siblings had been put in the ground and sent off, they moved with a renewed sense of purpose, knowing that they had to protect their siblings from the fate they would receive. 

Once they’d built up a shelter, finding a bed near what they were pretty sure to have once been apartments, they started eating the foods that would most likely expire first, realizing that the apocalypse had to have happened recently based on the string cheese they’d found not even looking like it’d been in the heat for more than a day at most. They all passed around a jug of water, all of them taking notes on their stockpiles of food and water before figuring out their rations, planning foods for about nine months, certain they’d get home by then. 

They never found Vanya’s pills. 

For the first few days, she was just a little more sensitive. Then, she started receiving hot flashes, vomiting at every turn. Ben could feel Five’s eyes on him while he gently rubbed her stomach, assuring her that she’d be okay. Five searched tirelessly for something like her medicine until he ended up just giving her fever reducers. 

When it started raining over their bodies, the water was actually nice to Ben, feeling like it was wiping his already grimy skin clean. The ash washed off of Five, and he turned to Vanya, to smile at her, but her eyes were filled with pain. Glass started shattering all around them, and Vanya whimpered. 

“Vanya, I think—” Whatever Five thought was cut off by his scream as an invisible force shoved him back, and he toppled over and scraped his head against some of the shattered glass. 

“I think you have powers,” he whimpered, and then Ben was performing first aid on him. 

Vanya looked so bewildered that she didn’t comment at all, just laying down on the full-sized mattress they’d all found the week before while Ben cleaned off Five’s cut. To be fair, Five didn’t seem upset at all about the energy, constantly assuring her that he was fine and asking her to try to use her powers again, and Ben had to snap at him to not make his death wish so obvious. Five blushed and told him he was just excited for her, and Ben nearly laughed out loud as he pulled him to their bed. 

“Guys,” Vanya finally said, pulling them both towards her to cuddle up against her. “Do you think my pills were… do you think that they’d been suppressing my powers?”

* * *

If she closed her eyes, she could maybe pretend that this was all a dream. As she stumbled through the wreckage, this thought came to her often. Until she was laying down on the glass covered ground, repeating that she would be home any instant, any instant, any instant—

A sob broke her train of thought, and then Five was hovering above her. “I found her,” he screamed, wiping furiously at his ash coated cheeks. The grime across his features made the trickles of salt-water tears and snot even more evident, and she didn’t think he was fooling anybody with it. Then again, Ben was probably crying as well. “She’s safe!”

Moments later, Ben was staring down at her too. He shot Five a quick glance, crouching down in front of her. “Five, apologize to her right this instant.”

She expected him to argue about that, but Five didn’t, either from how upset he was or how stern Ben had managed to sound. “Vanya, I’m really sorry. Of _ course  _ I wouldn’t be happier without you guys here.” 

Tilting her head to the glass beside her face, she pointedly ignored him. 

“Oh, for the love of Chr—”

“Vanya gets to decide whether or not to reject your apology, Five.”

“Ben, she’s clearly just...” Five stared down, at the blood trickling down her thigh. “Son of a  _ fuck,  _ Vanya, did you hurt yourself?” He started kneeling between her legs, trying to figure out where the injury was and she could feel herself beginning to sob, though her tears were from shame, weakly trying to back away from Five. 

“She obviously didn’t hurt herself, idiot,” Ben snapped, giving Five an irritated glance, which took him a few seconds to fully comprehend. 

Blushing, Five backed away, sheepishly muttering another apology and avoiding her gaze. 

“We could find something to help like… I dunno at least an extra blanket to lay under you because I don’t know if there’s anything that… sanitary out here.” Ben blushed, trying to look for Five’s help on this before apparently realizing he was completely alone, based on the fact that Five looked seconds from sobbing again. “And… I mean, if you have a stomach ache, we’ve grown all that mint, so we could make some tea with it and it might help things a little, since it soothes stomach aches. Five is very willing to build us a fire.  _ Right,  _ Five?”

Five scowled at him. “Yes, Vanya, I’m willing to build a fire. Or whatever else you need.”

“I think I’m going to die,” Vanya announced, and then Ben had to hold onto Five when he went so white that she genuinely thought he might pass out. 

“That’s not funny,” Five spat, trying to duck out of Ben’s grasp. 

“Not joking.”

He whimpered. 

“Vanya,” Ben scolded. “Stop trying to instigate fights. You two are acting like teenagers.”

“We  _ are  _ teenagers.” They’d turned 14 recently. Or, well, they’d celebrated turning 14 recently. None of them were sure how long it had actually been, not even Five, who always seemed to be convinced he knew everything. Vanya was pretty sure she was only mad at him because he’d yelled at her, but she worried, vaguely, that she was  _ hormonal.  _ There was no time for hormones in the apocalypse, and it was genuinely unfair that she’d gotten a  _ period  _ in this wasteland.

Ben sighed, offering his hand before pulling her up. “We need to go back to camp. In the future, we need to  _ not  _ run away when we are upset, and we need to  _ not  _ yell at someone so much that they try to run away. All we have is each other.”

When they got back to camp, Vanya took the mattress, putting up a forcefield around her any time either of them got near her. Eventually, Ben politely asked, “Van, may I please sit down on the mattress?”

Pouting indignantly, she moved her body just the slightest bit to the side. Ben curled up beside her, handing her dinner, which consisted mostly of vegetables and fruits from the garden (with Vanya’s powers and Ben’s determination for them all to not survive on  _ only  _ cockroaches, they’d managed pretty well for themselves, given the circumstances). Vanya ate quickly, moaning as she bit into the newly ripened berries and feeling Ben and Five jerk their heads towards her. She ignored them, eating all of her meal before collapsing against their bed. 

Five, apparently thinking that she’d now forgiven him, asked if he could lay down too, but she just glared at him until he huffed and announced that he would sleep in a sleeping bag tonight. However, by the middle of the night, she and Ben were both suffering from the cold, unused to not having Five’s body heat as well. 

Gingerly, she stepped over to his sleeping bag, shaking him roughly. “Wake up,” she snapped, and he opened his eyes, narrowing them. She climbed onto his lap. “Ben and I are lonely.”

“I thought you didn’t want me to sleep with you two,” he grunted, voice rough from lack of sleep. 

“Please?”

He didn’t budge. 

“It just gets so cold,” she said, dramatically leaning back, bony legs on either side of his waist. “Ben is probably going to get hypothermia.”

“You’re killing me.”

“I’m pretty sure Ben will  _ die _ if you don’t get into bed with us. You’re going to risk poor, sweet Ben’s life because you wanted to prove a point?”

Five scowled at her. “You’re the worst.”

She kissed his nose, figuring that he would be more receptive. 

Unfortunately, all it did was make Five push her off of him, and she grunted in surprise, watching his eyes fill with panic. “Oh my god, are you okay?”

Oh. She could use this to convince him for sure. Tearing up, she told him, “It’s fine. I’ll just go, uh… lay with Ben.” She’d gotten somewhat good at acting, and it helped that she was so upset he’d shoved her off of him, feeling like she’d upset him somehow, considering how he never so much as raised his voice at her before then. Maybe it was just the stress of being around them, but she couldn’t help but feel dejected, realizing that the tears weren’t faked at all, either when she stumbled over to their mattress, kneeling beside Ben as she really started sobbing. 

“What’s wrong?” he asked her, opening his eyes, scowling over at Five, who was staring on in panic. “Here, lay down on my other side.” To Five, he said, speaking in the ‘disappointed teacher’ tone (as Vanya had coined it), “Just get on the bed.”

Five walked forward, laying down on Ben’s other side. She kept crying until her face felt numb, aware that they were both mentally trying to decide how to help her. 

Vanya didn’t go to sleep, but she didn’t say anything, either. When she wasn’t crying any longer, she heard Five clear his throat.

“You should have just explained to her what happened,” Ben snapped. “She wouldn’t have gotten upset with you.”

“I don’t even know if she understands—”

“So your solution is to have her think you just suddenly hate her? Because I can assure you that’s what she was thinking when she fell asleep.”

Five sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s her you should be apologizing to.”

And the next morning, when she woke up, feeling lethargic and in tremendous pain, he did, but she couldn’t help but think still that she wasn’t the same to him any longer.

* * *

It  was becoming clearer and clearer with each passing day that he wasn’t going to get them home, and there wasn’t anything he could do about it, though the pain of failing them would regularly pierce his heart when they went to bed. 

“Do you think she hates me?” Five asked Ben one day, after Vanya announced that she needed to be alone for a bit and for them not to follow her. 

“I  _ think  _ that she has to pee and is paranoid we’re going to walk in on it.”

Five frowned at him. “She would tell us if it was just that, wouldn’t she?”

“Has she ever?”

He thought about that, realizing that she hadn’t. “Why wouldn’t she just say that, though?”

“Probably for the same reason she tried to sleep in a sleeping bag three weeks ago when she got her period.”

She  _ had  _ claimed that the reason she was sleeping on it was because they had ‘too many legs between them,’ but Five had been paranoid that the comment had happened from both himself and Ben going through the pains of puberty, which he refused to mention to Vanya, convinced that she was going ruin the purity of the only innocent person left alive in the world. 

“Do you think that there is some way that we would be able to tell her that it’s okay to say that kind of thing?’

“Best to just ignore it, actually. She’s a lot more sensitive than you.”

Ben wouldn’t meet his eyes, and Five realized that there was something he wasn’t saying. “Ben, what aren’t you telling me?”

Sighing, he told him, “Vanya thinks that  _ you  _ hate  _ her,  _ and there isn’t much that I can do to convince her otherwise. Especially when you’ve started ignoring her more and more often.”

Guiltily, Five asked, “Do you think if I tell her that I’m not mad at her she’ll believe me?”

He rolled his eyes. “I’ve said this too many times to count. Just tell her the truth, and you’ll be fine.”

“Ben, she doesn’t think about that kind of thing, and I feel awful that I do.”

“Why do I always have to be the mediator between you two?” Ben blurted. “Don’t you guys ever think that I’m going through a few things myself?”

Five glanced down, sheepish. “I’m sorry, Ben.”

“No, it’s fine… It’s just that it’s so frustrating dealing with all of this on top of dealing with… staying alive.” Ben glanced away, eyes filling with tears. “I think we’re going to die out here, Five, and I don’t know what to  _ do.” _

“We’ll get home.”

“Do you really think that, though? Because every day I can’t help but think that our powers are going to get weaker and weaker. We’re managing to eat more than we would have without Vanya’s powers, but you haven’t teleported for two years and the most that I can do with mine is heavy lifting.” He glanced down. “That and comforting you guys, but I think that they choose that.”

“Ben?”

He glanced up. “Yeah, Five?”

“Why  _ do  _ they treat us differently?” Five set his hand on Ben’s stomach, where he could see them struggling against his brother’s skin, not concerned when they stilled. He was used to their reaction to him (and Vanya) by this point, always comforted when they were near. “Do you think that they have some sort of bond to us?”

“I don’t know, honestly.” Ben set his hand on top of his, brushing his fingers over Five’s veins. He wondered if Ben thought his hands were grimy, furrowing his brows as he watched him. “Wouldn’t it bother you a little, if they did?”

“Wouldn’t bother me.” He flipped his hand over, lacing their fingers together. “Though I can’t really speak for Vanya.” 

Ben set his head on Five’s shoulder, and he could feel his heart begin to pound, hyper-aware of his breathing. “I can honestly say that if I was going to survive being stuck with anybody for the rest of my life, it would be you two.”

“What about Diego and Klaus?” Five teased, wrapping his arm around his waist and resting his chin on top of his head, absurdly proud that he was the taller of the two. “When you weren’t spending time with us, you were spending time with them.”

“You think that the three of us would have survived this long? Diego would break a nail and call it quits.”

“Diego wouldn’t have gotten you stuck here in the first place.”

Frowning at him, Ben said, “Neither of us has ever blamed you for that, Five. Besides… I think that Vanya is actually living a better life for it. She would have never found out that she had powers, you know… Would have lived with all of the bullshit she did. You  _ helped  _ her, in my opinion.”

Five didn’t respond to that, knowing that, while it might be true, he would have left her behind easily that day, living with that guilt constantly. “I haven’t helped  _ you,  _ though.”

“Yeah, well, I wouldn’t have wanted to be around without you.” Ben turned Five’s head, forcing him to meet his gaze. “I like being around you, idiot.”

With a smile stretching across his face, Five told him, “I like having you around too, Ben.” Their noses were practically touching, and he wondered if Ben would kiss him, finding himself excited by the concept. Just as Ben’s lips pressed to his, he heard Vanya’s voice. 

“Guys, do you know where any deod—” Both Five and Ben turned to Vanya, likely wearing equally guilty expressions on their faces. “Um, I’ll just…” She blushed, searching around their shelter. “You know what? I feel kind of sick to my stomach, so I’m just going to—” 

When she darted off, Five started to stand up, but Ben held him back. “Let her cool down, okay?”

* * *

With  Vanya laying down on him, Ben couldn’t help but wonder what she was thinking. Five had told them he wanted a few more hours to himself today, certain he’d had a breakthrough, explaining that he worked best in silence. Ben was pretty sure he was just jerking off, but he didn’t comment on this, aware that it wouldn’t be very productive, especially with Vanya laying across their laps, her nipples peeking through her shirt from the morning breeze while she looked up at them. 

“You think we could find some more books to read soon?” Vanya asked, reaching for his hand to clasp with hers, setting it against her chest. He nearly yelped, feeling the pebbled nipples against his hand, but he was thankfully able to manage not making a complete jackass of himself. “I keep meaning to ask Five if he’ll let us explore some more, but I’ve read through all the books at the library now.”

“Are you starting to get bored?” he asked, hating that his eyes kept going back to her chest and hated being a hormonal sixteen year old and hating Five for leaving them behind because he was having urges too, dammit. “Because I’m sure you could convince Five to teach you some of the physics he’s doing, which would be very exciting to see for me, considering he would _ try  _ to manage to not yell at you.”

She giggled. “Do you think we’d witness his head explode? Like a cartoon?”

“I don’t know, maybe you should try it.” He lay back, keeping her head on his lap as he did. “If anybody could last that, it’d be you.”

“He’ll get all pouty.”

“I think that’s just his face.” He tangled his fingers through Vanya’s hair. 

Vanya glanced up at him, getting a gleam in her eye before crawling on top of him, sitting down right on top of the morning wood that Ben was sporting and not noticing at all. “You know what would make him  _ really  _ mad?”

Ben was going to die. His voice was basically just a squeak when he asked, “What?”

“If we started a book club and made him join it. He  _ hates  _ analyzing books.”

If Five were here, he’d probably hate Ben more, considering the fact that the position of her on top of them felt like something straight out of the fantasies that both of them had about her, having no shame in sharing them with one another. The most they had ever done with one another so far had been to make out, though they did it so frequently that Ben wondered if that would become more anytime soon. He was pretty sure Five only waited because he didn’t want to inadvertently exclude Vanya, though, considering how a good portion of the time they talked about  _ her  _ while they made out, he didn’t think that was quite fair. 

“I don’t think it would take much to convince Five to join a book club if we started one,” Ben argued, remembering the (very innocent) thing she had suggested. “We don’t have much to do around here, so I don’t think he would complain too much. Especially if we asked him nicely.” He didn’t add, though his mind was thinking it, that he hoped she asked Five by sitting on his lap, the mental image of her on top of him like she was with him now causing his cock to twitch against her. 

“Hmm. Want to make a bet?”

“What would we even be betting with?”

She thought about it. “Who gets to be the middle spoon.”

At one point, when they’d accepted nobody was going to be around to hurt them, he’d started taking turns with Vanya for the middle spoon, though he did like to keep her pressed between Five and himself when there had been anything upsetting the day before. As it was, he liked Vanya cuddled up to his shoulder and Five to glance protectively over the both of them. It was nice to feel both of them so close.

“Alright. I’ll take that bet. Though you probably shouldn’t ask him when you’re on top of him like this, or else he’ll think you’re being annoying.” Ben was aware that it was probably wrong to use reverse psychology on Vanya to convince her to climb on top of Five, but he also was 90% certain Five would throttle him if he got to experience this when he didn’t. 

When Five got back, Vanya climbed on top of him, and he actually did yelp, asking her what she was doing. 

“Can we start a book club? Please?”

“Uh, yeah, sure, that’s—”

She leaned down, and Five’s eyes zeroed in on her pebbled nipples, straining against her top. He gulped turning to Ben, but she asked, “Will you join though?  _ Please?”  _

“Yeah, I can join.”

Vanya pouted, hopping off of Five, who looked seconds from tears. “Alright, Ben, you win.”

“This was your plan?” Five asked, gaping at him. He was pretty sure that Five would be taking his frustrations out on him tonight, so Ben just shrugged. “Well, I think a book club sounds amazing, guys. Though I refuse to analyze anything.” 

* * *

They climbed in beside her, one of them taking either side of her as they did  _ most  _ nights], convinced that somebody was going to get to them despite the fact that they were completely alone. Five and Ben slept with a bunch of weapons on them, which was annoying as Hell, and Vanya told them frequently that their displays of masculinity were not impressive in the slightest. 

“You know,” Five said as she wrapped her leg around him, knowing he would be less likely to complain about this sleeping position than Ben, who constantly complained about how they were practically furnaces at night, though she was pretty sure it was only because he wanted to complain about something. “I think we turn 17 pretty soon.”

“What about it?” she said, trying to adjust herself and nearly complaining when she felt his gun near his legs, repositioning her leg a little because she could feel the weapon twitch against her. She was convinced it would shoot her someday, and then he’d be sorry for insisting on sleeping with weapons. “Does our age matter when we’re the only people alive here?”

Ben, apparently deciding she’d gotten less furnace-like (though he’d probably still complain about it), cuddled up behind her, explaining, “I think he’s just pointing out that we’ve lasted so long.”

She tugged them both close, and both of them groaned, apparently not wanting her affection. “We should celebrate.”

“What do you suggest?” Five asked, tipping his head to her. She wondered if he would care if she kissed him. It was something she thought about frequently, about kissing Ben or Five. She hadn’t ever kissed either of them on the lips, though she knew they kissed one another frequently. 

“What’s something that all of us have not done already?”

And then she realized how that sounded, that she was suggesting the thoughts drifting in her head, of kissing them like they kissed one another—

Blushing furiously, she grabbed a jacket to hide her face under, swatting away their hands when they tried to comfort her. 

“You don’t have any reason to be ashamed,” Ben told her. “Of whatever you were thinking about.”

“He’s right. We won’t judge you for  _ anything.” _

Faintly, she heard them both chuckling, and she lowered the jacket, scowling at them both. “You are laughing at me as we speak,” she pointed out. 

“We’re laughing at the fact that you covered yourself with a jacket when you regularly change in front of us.”

“It’s not the same context,” she whimpered, hiding behind the jacket again. 

Five sighed, loudly. “We’re sorry. We didn’t mean to upset you.” He had gotten pretty talented at apologizing, considering the fact that he pissed them off enough that he had daily practice. “Please don’t be mad at us.”

“Don’t give me reason to be mad at you.”

“Vanya, I can’t handle being only able to talk to  _ Five,  _ and I’m not above begging for your forgiveness.”

That sounded nice. “You  _ should,”  _ she sniffed, aware that they probably thought she acted like a giant baby. If anything, that only made her behavior more persistent, liking that she was the one that they enjoyed taking care of for reasons she couldn’t entirely explain. “All I was trying to do was suggest doing something fun on our birthday, but I don't want to anymore.”

“Aww, don’t do that.” Ben scratched her back, the way he always did when she was upset, already managing to make her anger fade away. “What can we do to make it up to you, Seven?”

“Whatever you want,” Five added, and she popped her head out from the fabric again, finding them both watching her intently. She grabbed each of the arms, wrapping them around her, purring when she felt the eldritch straining to get to her. Without any prompting, Ben tugged off his shirt, letting them free to explore. 

Most of the time, they’d give Five attention too, but they ignored him, curling around her like vines on a wire. 

“Do you think that we could get drunk?” Vanya blurted, thinking of the bottles of vodka and gin that they had found, which Five and Ben had only taken experimental drinks of, always wincing at the taste. She’d refused it each time they’d offered, worried how her powers would react, but the thought of drinking with them  _ now  _ sounded fun. “I mean, what’s the worst that could happen? My powers aren’t nearly as strong as they once were.” At the sad tone of voice, one of the tips of the tentacles nudged against her shoulder until she laughed a little, resting against them and pulling Five and Ben closer, hugging their arms. 

Five thought about it, but Ben told her, “If you want to, we absolutely can.”

When their birthday came, she alternated between sitting in Five and Ben’s laps, petting the eldritch with as much gentleness as she could, feeling her cheeks begin to warm as the tentacles started tickling her, feeling her brother’s eyes on her as they did.

* * *

By the time that they were seventeen, Five was growing more and more frustrated, in multiple regards. The first was simple. Or, well, it wasn’t simple, but it was understandable, given the circumstances. No matter how much work he put in, he couldn’t find the equations to take all three of them home. 

Related to the first, the second was the growing fear that they wouldn’t be able to survive. 

Vanya and Ben were  _ precious  _ to him, and seeing them have to suffer because of him was awful. Sure, they had their garden and their books and plenty other things, but he sometimes heard them reminiscing about what they missed most after they’d thought he’d fallen asleep. The pain that would spear his heart each time kept him from ever saying anything. 

The third was, unfortunately, purely hormonal. Sleeping with Vanya cuddled up to him, knowing what Ben did when he told them he was going to be gone for a bit and not to follow him. It was all killing him. Vanya had apparently not even noticed, changing in front of them and sleeping in just her panties on nights that were too hot, her tiny body pressing up to his and making him more and more frustrated and quick to snap at her. As soon as he’d see the crestfallen glance she’d shoot his way, he’d want to beg forgiveness, but she’d only set her chin stubbornly and ignore him when he did. 

It didn’t help that her powers kept him from wanting to provoke her too much, knowing that hers were stronger than his, that she could actually  _ access  _ them. 

The only thing Vanya didn’t seem to argue with these days were the eldritch, always curling up to her when she was mad at Ben or Five, touching her exposed skin without any shame when she was only in her underwear. Maddeningly, she didn’t even object to it, giggling when the monsters tickled her stomach and giggling even louder when one would press between her thighs. He didn’t think she fully understood what they were doing, but then he didn’t even know if the tentacles were aware of it either, just doing whatever it took to keep Vanya’s frustration at bay. 

He’d often catch Ben glancing at the action, both of them hard as they heard the noises Vanya would make, how her skin would start to go pink as the tentacles got her off until she fell asleep. She’d not even thought to be ashamed of it, convincing Five that she had no idea what was going on, only making the guilt worsen when he’d see her soaked underwear. When she’d pull them off her body in the morning, exposing Five and Ben to her cunt and ass while she bent over in search of new clothes, he’d almost say something, knowing it was wrong to look at her, but then she’d be dressed and crawling back on top of them and he’d keep his thoughts to himself.

Ben was getting frustrated too, he could tell. Five would tell her sometimes that he needed Ben’s help on something, that they’d be gone for a few hours, and Vanya wouldn’t complain. She usually just read while they were gone, always guilty enough afterwards that they’d make her dinner and rub her feet and whatever else would stave away the guilt, feeling like they were excluding her. It was to protect her innocence, though. Five didn’t want to take that away from her, even if he knew she  _ had  _ the same urges as them. Frustratingly, she’d gotten even closer to the tentacles because of it, asking Ben if he’d take off his shirt and let them out when they’d go to bed, purring when they’d wrap around her. 

Tonight, she hadn’t even bothered to wear underwear, and Five was so  _ painfully  _ hard as he watched her cunt start to gush against the tentacles that he told her, “Ben and I need to check on something, okay?”

“Oh—okay,” she moaned, not even seeming to notice. Ben glared at him, not leaving until Vanya had come, her cunt constricting around the very tip of one tentacle. The eldritch protested when they started to walk away. Well, it did until Five started cooing to the creatures, stroking them gently and watching Ben’s cock twitch as he did, only prompting him to play with them more until they were far away enough that they were hidden from Vanya and able to hear if she needed them at all. 

“This is killing me,” Ben groaned, and Five smirked at him. 

“At least you get to feel her through those things,” Five commented, pulling Ben’s pants off without grace. The tentacles kept wrapping around his stomach, and he moaned, “Even though I know that Vanya is their favorite, they really do feel good.” One started slipping into his sweatpants, and he gasped as it started jerking him off, “Are we the only people that they do this too?”

“Obviously,” Ben spat, and Five knew it was just his frustration at feeling Five’s cock twitch through the eldritch and not himself touching him. Though the eldritch did what they wanted, Ben felt everything they did. Unfortunately, Ben refused to answer if it felt like having more than one cock, no matter how many times Five persistently asked him. The most he would do is describe the feeling of Vanya, which, frankly, Five was content with, hearing about their sister’s heat while he sucked Ben off or fucked him from behind, having no shame in using the secretions that came from the monsters as lube. The tentacles didn’t seem to have any objections, either, giving him whatever he wanted. 

Five was still convinced that it was some sort of mating bond between the creatures, Vanya, and Five. They didn’t try to ever hurt Ben, seemingly ambivalent to him, but they did whatever the two of them asked, curling up to them when they were upset and helping their frustrations when they needed that too. He knew that the tentacles loved him, though, and that they were just as protective of Five and Vanya as Ben was. The love Five felt for them was the same as his love for Ben, considering them just an extension of his brother and often assuring him of this when he caught his eyes filled with jealousy. 

“Do you know why they do this with us?” Five asked, pulling off his clothes and nearly hissing when he felt the tip of one nearing his ass, realizing that it had been the one who’d just had Vanya constricted around him as he felt Vanya’s cum against him. Ben lay back against a boulder, and Five took him in his mouth, letting the tentacles languidly fuck him as he did. 

“I don’t know, Five,” Ben grunted, pulling his hair and causing a whimper to leave his throat as he bobbed his head, licking at his length and trying to soothe the ache they were both feeling watching Vanya orgasm in front of them. “Though I’m starting to believe your theory more and more, that the monsters have…  _ fuck, Five…  _ mated to you both.”

He took pride in Ben’s speech starting to be affected, usually unable to take away his regular tone of voice when he sucked him off. Usually only when he’d be describing the feeling of Vanya’s pussy against the tentacles did he start to sound affected, though, really, Five could understand. Nothing got him off more than watching her be fucked with them, hearing her light squeals and giggles, watching the wet patch of her panties grow larger and larger. 

As if he’d figured out the direction of Five’s thoughts, Ben started gasping out, “She’s so responsive, Five. Her little cunt clenched the second she felt it inside of her.”

Five groaned, twitching against the eldritch. 

“You  _ both  _ feel fucking perfect,” Ben amended, and Five knew he wasn’t lying to him, feeling joy course through him as he heard Ben’s praise. “God, I love you both so much.”

These were words they told each other often, hearing Vanya only say it every once in a while and craving the validation from  _ someone.  _ Five and Ben were in love with one another, but they were in love with Vanya just as dearly, craved her affection and validation to an almost desperate level. As Ben started to spill in his mouth, he wished that they could just say what they felt for her to her face, knowing that it would make it all so much easier for them, but they couldn’t really do that. Ben was certain that she still only thought of them as her brothers, as her best friends, and Five would die before he took away the sweet, gentle,  _ innocent  _ way that she loved them. 

Besides, they had each other when the frustration became too great.

* * *

It became damn near impossible to think sometimes. Ben hadn’t ever intended for the eldritch to grow attached to the others, and he couldn’t control them. Not that he knew he would if he could. 

Some nights, he’d wake up to Vanya dragging her tongue along one of them, whimpering softly until it pressed inside of her, wanting to please her. They cared for her, were gentle with her when they touched her. With Five, who actively encouraged them to fuck him roughly, they weren’t  _ quite  _ as gentle. 

He knew that Five thought of Vanya as innocent, but he heard her in the night, whispering to the tentacles until they were wrapping around her legs, nudging themselves inside of her. She’d fuck herself leisurely against them, and then she’d start alternating between muttering  _ Ben  _ and  _ Five.  _ The first time he had heard it, Ben had actually been scared it would piss off the eldritch somehow, that they’d start to hurt her, but the tentacles just offered themselves up to her mouth, offering her privacy if she chose it. As soon as her mouth wrapped around one, he’d heard her make a small noise, her tiny voice whimpering as she sucked the tentacle. 

Some days, Five would start to stand up to work on his equations, but he’d stop to watch Vanya and the eldritch, eyes intent on her small breasts and dripping cunt. Vanya would glance up at him through lidded eyes, asking him if he could stay just a little bit longer, that he needed sleep if they were going to ever get home. 

Once, when he’d been getting up to work, she’d grabbed a sharpie and just told him to use her body to write his math on. Five had clearly struggled to focus on the equations at all, having been given free rein to touch her as much as he wanted. She’d had the equations on her for a few days until finally Five transcribed them onto his chalkboard, boiling water to wash her with, flinching each time he’d drag his washcloth over her sweat-soaked skin and she’d moan. He’d avoided reaching between her legs, until she’d softly told him that she liked being washed by him, asking if he would clean her completely, which Five did easily, looking like he would break at any second. 

The tentacles were straining against his stomach right now, sleeping in between them after Vanya asked if he would, having hurt her leg earlier and needing better elevation for it. Five kept rubbing his stomach as much as he could, but they were worried about Vanya, wanting to comfort her. Ben’s cock was straining against his boxers. 

“Ben, can you take your shirt off?” Vanya asked. “I think they’ll help my pain.”

He forced down the groan that he could feel in his throat, tugging off his shirt. 

“Do you want me to see if I can find some acetaminophen or something?” Five tilted his head to the side, raising his brows. “I don’t want you to rely on them to not hurt.”

Translation: he didn’t want to watch Vanya get fucked by the tentacles because he’d be jealous of both them  _ and _ her. Even though he loved all of them equally, he was clearly envious of the tentacles getting to touch her without any shame or concern. 

“Is it a good idea to waste them on a sprained ankle?”

“I’ll get you some,” he announced, darting off to grab some, not getting to witness the eldritch start to struggle out of Ben’s stomach as they did, reaching over for Vanya and tracing over her skin. The tentacles cared for both Five and Vanya, and they wouldn’t want to upset Five, probably recognizing he’d go run off to help her at some point. 

“They’re so kind,” Vanya told Ben as she stroked them, not realizing how much desire was coursing through him at her touch. “Just like you.”

“I don’t think they’d ever be like this with anybody else,” Ben said honestly, gasping as one slipped inside of her, thrusting gently. “They really care about you and Five.”

“Do you know why?” She kissed one, gasping as it slipped inside of her mouth, her cheeks hollowing as she sucked on it, closing her eyes and grunting. Before she kitten-licked it, she told him, “I love them too, just like I love you.”

Ben knew that the love she felt for them  _ was  _ the exact same, having read some of the titles of the stories she would read and aware that she knew more and more about what she wanted each day. So far she hadn’t been confident enough to just say it, though. “I love you too, V.”

The eldritch slipped between her breasts, nudging at her. Five walked over to them, handing her some pills and a canteen, which she guzzled from, not bothering Ben or Five. If both of them had to give up all of their food and resources for her to survive, they would in a heartbeat, though each day Five was growing certain that he’d get them home. 

“I love you too, Five,” Vanya told him when she set down the canteen. 

He raised his brows, repeating the sentiment in confusion. “Why are you saying that, though?”

“I just said it to Ben and the eldritch.” Vanya shrugged. “Do you not want to hear it?”

“No, that’s fine. Say it as much as you want.” Five smiled as the eldritch started to nudge against him too, having lost all shame about getting fucked by them in front of her, telling Ben when he pointed it out that if she got to get off from them while they watched, he deserved it too.  _ ‘Plus,’  _ he’d reasoned.  _ ‘She doesn’t understand what’s going on anyways.’ _

She did, though, and she watched through lidded eyes as the tentacles fucked both of them. Ben could feel himself nearly at a climax just from the feeling of both of them fucking against him, wanting to reach down and touch himself but knowing he couldn’t, even if his erection was starting to get painful. However, with Vanya writing against the tentacles, she didn’t even seem to notice, eyes screwed shut, when she began humping his leg. Five clearly did, spilling against the eldritch at the sight of it. 

Vanya made a small noise, cuddling up to Ben, setting her chin on his shoulder, closing her eyes as the tentacles fucked her.

* * *

Eventually , they had to find a larger mattress, unable to fit all three of them on the full any longer. When Vanya found a king size mattress one day, having searched for hours, she yelped in delight, lifting it up with her powers and presenting it to Ben and Five with a flourish. As they caught sight of her grinning at them, proud as Hell of herself, they both raised their brows at her until she set the bed down, immediately woozy from the display of powers. Five had already ambled up to her (likely bitter that her powers were intact and his weren’t, even though hers had been suppressed for years), catching her before she could stumble. 

“You got us a new bed,” Ben commented, helping Five lay her down on top of it before finding her something to eat. “Where’d you find it?”

“Near the building that’s all crumbly, the one that smells gross.”

Before Five could argue that that was  _ most  _ buildings in this wasteland, which he was clearly angling towards, Ben told her, “Thank you for that, V. We needed a larger bed anyways.”

“Yeah, it’ll help us sleep more comfortably,” she agreed, pulling Five towards her, eating the food Ben gave her. “Can you two manage laying down for a bit?”

Ben agreed for Five, who, as usually, was in a mood. 

“I know it’s not a very pressing matter, but I’m growing more and more bored here.” Vanya combed through Ben’s thick hair with her fingers, pulling Five forward until he had his chin against her chest. “There’s nothing  _ fun  _ out here.”

Five scowled up at her. “You’re right. That’s not a very pressing matter.” His irritation went away completely though when she started shrugging off her shirt, putting his head back down against her chest after she did. Apparently incapable of shame, he muttered from between her breasts, “What would you even suggest doing to cure your…” Voice dripping with disdain, he finished his question,  _ “Boredom?” _

She tipped his chin up, watching the longing in his gaze. None of them had any boundaries with each other, so Five didn’t even act all that concerned when she started tracing his lips with her fingers, though she could feel the weight of both Ben and Five’s gaze on her. Remembering a conversation from years ago, she asked, “What are some things we don’t  _ already _ do here?”

“So that  _ wasn’t  _ innocent,” Five commented, lifting his head a little. 

“You should’ve figured that out sooner.” 

With Ben taking Five’s side, both of them laughing like idiots, she had no shame in telling them, “Sleep on the other mattress, assholes.” 

Ben and Five immediately stopped laughing, their features screwing into something apologetic, but she didn’t change her hardened expression, feeling delighted when they gave her a pained expression and sat down on the (much smaller) mattress. 

Unfortunately, though, she could sense Ben growing restless, knowing that it was the eldritch. Softly, she called out, “It’s okay if you have to—”

He glanced down miserably, not saying anything as he tore off his shirt. When the monsters started spilling from him, having lost any horror they’d ever held to Vanya, she stepped forward, petting the tentacles gently. The eldritch never responded negatively to Vanya’s or Five’s touch. In fact, they grew less restless each time either of them touched them, so she felt no concern in dragging her fingers along them. She sat down beside Ben and Five, hearing Ben groan as she continued to stroke the tentacles, remembering how he’d once said that he felt it too when she’d asked why he always reacted that way. It hadn’t precisely answered her question, though. 

“Is it because you got stressed that they started reacting this way?” Vanya asked now, guiltily, forcing down a giggle when one of the tentacles tickled her stomach. She kissed it to calm it down, noticing Five and Ben both throwing a dirty look to it as she did. 

“I think it was more that you were upset, and specifically at us. Which, by the way, why are you—”

“Ben, stop.” Five, apparently unused to being the one to break up an argument before it happened, looked bewildered for a few seconds. “Vanya’s allowed to be upset when she wants.” 

A thought came to her mind, unprovoked, that maybe  _ they  _ would calm down from her kissing them too. Quickly walking over to them and crouching down, she kissed Five’s lips quickly and kissed Ben’s while Five’s jaw was still dropped. 

She stood up, marching back to the bed and letting the eldritch follow behind her. When she curled up with the tentacles, she sighed when they began to gently stroke her skin, comforting her in turn. 

The two idiots on the other bed were still gaping, and she quietly complained about them to the eldritch, convinced that they would be more sympathetic to her cause. When they wrapped around her tummy, feeling like a hug, she kissed the tentacles again and again and again, grateful that  _ they  _ would comfort her. 

Around the time that she was pressing kisses to them, she heard Ben and Five stomp over to her, only about ten feet away in the first place. She kept petting the tentacles, ignoring them until Ben said, voice nearing desperation, “We’re really sorry, Vanya. Please forgive us.”

“We’ll do any—” Five’s eyes zeroed in on her lips, and he scowled, glancing away, spitting, “We’ll do anything, just—”

She raised her brows, expecting him to finish his sentence, but he was blushing furiously, refusing to meet her gaze. 

“As I told you,” she sighed to the monsters. “They’re both idiots.” 

They were apparently more willing to make peace than she thought, neither of them arguing with her words. With a sigh, she told them they could lay down, not giving them any attention as she continued to touch the tentacles, fascinated by the noises Ben was making as she did. Five watched it all, looking near tears. 

As they started brushing over her skin, she nearly blushed, remembering the day she’d realized  _ why  _ it had felt so good after dipping into the romance novels at the library, having read them in hopes of getting the urge to kiss Five and Ben to go away. If she let on that she knew what they were doing, though, or acted any differently, they’d figure out that she  _ knew  _ that she was… masturbating? Having sex with Ben’s tentacles? 

Vanya wasn’t  _ stupid.  _ There just hadn’t really been any sex education at the academy. She’d  _ honestly _ thought that only guys could masturbate, and it would be entirely mortifying to admit this to them. Plus, it wasn’t like Five and Ben didn’t get off on watching the tentacles touch her anyways. If they were uncomfortable with it, she’d have stopped immediately after realizing what was going on. As it was, she saw the way their pants would tighten as the tentacles would start to touch her, aware that they probably felt just as guilt as her. 

A thought came to her, unbidden, and she was so frustrated watching her brothers watch her that she went with it, climbing on top of one of the tentacles. They were small enough to fit inside of her at the tips, but they were thicker the closer they got to Ben’s stomach. She slipped off her clothing, feeling more than hearing Five and Ben gasp as she started to grind her hips against the tentacles. 

“What are you doing?” Five squeaked. 

She smirked, remembering that  _ he  _ could have told her all those times the tentacles had fucked her in front of them, considering the fact that he’d been perfectly aware of what they’d been doing the entire time it had been happening. Vanya had had to learn all about sex through the books she scoured through while Ben and Five were off having sex somewhere else. (And, really, how subtle did they think they were when she had the power to hear everything that they did when they went away? Vanya had never been jealous of it, only growing more frustrated because she wanted to join them, having no qualms with the tentacles comforting her when they were being  _ idiots _ about it all.)

“It feels good,” Vanya told him, trying to make her voice as innocent as she could, opening her mouth up. The eldritch she had climbed on top of, aware of what she was doing on some level that she didn’t entirely understand, slipped the tip of it inside of her mouth, vibrating a little when she sucked it obediently. She’d never felt it do  _ this  _ before, and she mewled loudly at the sensations pulsing through her. Five and Ben were alternating watching between her legs and at her hardened nipples, and she asked Five, not even faking the tears that were falling from her eyes, though it was for an entirely different reason than he would assume, “Am I doing something bad? Should I stop?”

Ben answered for him, yelping, “No! Don’t stop!” He shot Five the most irritated look he’d ever seen, her brothers having always been close to one another and not often fighting. “What she is doing is entirely natural?  _ Right,  _ Five?”

“Right,” Five said, watching intently as slickness oozed out of Vanya. “Whatever makes you feel—”

He groaned as the eldritch started stroking at his erection, over the cotton of his sweatpants. 

Softly, she asked Ben, “Would you take off your boxers?”

They were more shy about changing in front of her, and she hadn’t seen him naked from the waist down in any context besides the occasional time when he just  _ had _ to change in front of her, for whatever reason. When he tugged them down, his erection springing free, she kept her eyes on his cock as she licked the tentacles, whimpering when she saw it twitch before closing her mouth around the tip again and  _ sucking,  _ roughly, her teeth scraping against it. She could hear the familiar sounds of the monsters jerking Five off, and her other brother was whimpering so loudly that she was certain he would come at any second. 

Just as she was certain he was going to, she gently asked the eldritch to stop touching Five, and it listened to her command, wrapping around her. A feeling of smugness reached her when she heard Five protesting, cuddling up to the monsters and kissing her thanks at them, hearing Ben choke out a sob. 

Vanya let the tentacles continue to touch her, telling them both with a feral grin, “If you two have sex after this, I will never let you fuck me.”

Suffice to say, they didn’t sneak away that night. 

* * *

After  Vanya let them in on the fact that she wasn’t as innocent as they seemed to believe, it became increasingly difficult to focus on his equations, having been given something much more exciting to do with his time. Though he and Ben had been sleeping together for a while, it had usually only been quick dalliances, far enough away from Vanya that she wouldn’t hear. Or, well, so they’d thought. His work hadn’t been affected by it because both Vanya and Ben had forced him, around the time they were maybe fourteen, to only work a certain number of hours a day. Considering the fact that both of them terrified him, he wasn’t willing to argue, which came in handy when he and Ben started sleeping together, which he considered to be a  _ wonderful  _ use of his free time. 

However, he was convinced that if he worked on his equations right now, he would miss out on anything Ben and Vanya were trying, so his math was largely ignored. For now. 

While her legs were spread out in front of him, Vanya seemed to realize his lack of productivity, commenting, just as he finally,  _ finally,  _ had been given the permission to sink his tongue inside of her dripping cunt, “You haven’t been pestering us about math in the past week.” Five glanced up at her, frowning. Taking it slow in a world where nobody else was alive and no obligations existed had essentially meant, ‘third base for a week,’ and he had been so  _ patient  _ in waiting to eat her out. “Have you gotten into a slump?”

“I have  _ not  _ gotten into a  _ slump.  _ I have been preoccupied.”

“Ben and I aren’t going to be mad if you take a few weeks off,” Vanya told him, leaning against Ben’s chest, who was kissing her neck and not participating in the conversation. “You have been working pretty much tirelessly for the past… six years?”

“About five and a half,” Ben told her, nibbling at her earlobe. Vanya’s legs spread a little further. “And Vanya’s right, Five. If you don’t want to work for a bit, we’re not going to be upset.”

“I’ve got to get us home—”

“Neither of us are worried that you won’t,” Vanya assured him, sounding gentle for once in her life, having gained a much more fiery personality without her pills or without anybody getting upset with her for it. In fact, Five and Ben had actively encouraged it, and he enjoyed how confident she was now, how she still didn’t mind if they babied her, regardless. “Though I know that  _ I  _ worry with how much pressure you put on yourself.”

Five started to argue, but Ben was nodding in agreement. He sighed, ducking between Vanya’s legs. Truth be told, he was ecstatic that they worried so much about him, loving them dearly for it, but he also knew that their concern was ruining his productivity. Then again, he was too, taking time off to spend time with Vanya and Ben. 

Not that he was going to stop, of course. 

“You know we wouldn’t last without you, right?” Ben asked, reaching around Vanya to pet his hair as he started lapping at her cunt. She made a surprised noise, and he glanced up, trying to make sure what he was doing was still fine. However, when she caught his eyes, she pushed his head back, hissing out for him not to stop. “Vanya, in particular, would not last without you.”

He grinned, going back to the movement that had made her sound so affected, wanting to hear it again. They were right, he supposed. Undoubtedly, if he tried to work right now, he wouldn’t be able to concentrate at all, wondering what they were doing the entire time and craving their company. Even when he just worked too long, often isolating himself when he did it, he’d feel an ache in his chest, missing them despite the fact that none of them ever separated from one another more than a mile. 

His tongue kept flicking inside of her, experimenting with different rhythms and speeds, trying to figure out what she enjoyed and just the slightest bit jealous of the eldritch for already knowing, even though he would never admit that aloud to her.

Vanya didn’t precisely announce when she came, as Five would have expected, but he heard a few glass bottles shattering in the distance, causing him to smirk when he moved away from between her legs, crawling up to her and kissing her. At the soft noise Ben made, he kissed him too, smiling against his lips. 

“I won’t ever let you two live without me,” he promised, kissing each of their cheeks quickly. “We’ll always be together.”

He didn’t know, of course, what was to soon come. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! It will take a bit longer for updates on this fic, as the chapters will all be at least 10k, but I’ll try to update this one as frequently as I can!


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